02-26-2019, 06:21 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-26-2019, 06:38 AM by Nicole Wrishko.)
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47311186
A giant female bee the size of an adult thumb was discovered in a little-explored Indonesian island. The bee, known as Wallace's giant bee, was named after Alfred Russel Wallace who described it in the mid 1800s. In 1981, many of these specimen were found. However, after many years with no signs of Wallace's giant bee, it was assumed to be lost to science. In the past year, though, there has been reports about the bees BEEing offered and sold online. The bee is about 4 cm in length with a wingspan of 6 cm, making it the world's largest bee. Wallace, who co-developed the theory of evolution with Charles Darwin, described the bee as, "a large black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag-beetle". This discovery raises hopes that the region's forests have more of the thought-to-be lost specimen. I hope in the future that there are proper legal protections around the trade of the giant bee. In addition, as Eli Wyman mentions in the article, I hope that this rediscovery sparks deeper research into the understanding of bees. Bees are considered as vulnerable to extinction, so a great amount of consideration should go into the research and protection of the species.
A giant female bee the size of an adult thumb was discovered in a little-explored Indonesian island. The bee, known as Wallace's giant bee, was named after Alfred Russel Wallace who described it in the mid 1800s. In 1981, many of these specimen were found. However, after many years with no signs of Wallace's giant bee, it was assumed to be lost to science. In the past year, though, there has been reports about the bees BEEing offered and sold online. The bee is about 4 cm in length with a wingspan of 6 cm, making it the world's largest bee. Wallace, who co-developed the theory of evolution with Charles Darwin, described the bee as, "a large black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag-beetle". This discovery raises hopes that the region's forests have more of the thought-to-be lost specimen. I hope in the future that there are proper legal protections around the trade of the giant bee. In addition, as Eli Wyman mentions in the article, I hope that this rediscovery sparks deeper research into the understanding of bees. Bees are considered as vulnerable to extinction, so a great amount of consideration should go into the research and protection of the species.